2.The Gunpowder Plot or Guy Fawkes Night
Although a night of celebration on November 5th in the United Kingdom, the story of Guy Fawkes is a bit on the gruesome side. His demise was tragic. Guy Fawkes was involved with a group who wanted to kill King James, and have him replaced with Princess Elizabeth. After being tortured and interrogated many times, he was finally put on trial with his conspirators in the beginning of 1606. They were found guilty of high treason and were given the most gruesome executions. The bowels and hearts were removed, and then they were decapitated, with dismembered parts of their body on display to show what happens to traitors. Due to the gruesome circumstance, Doctor Who should stay clear of this topic. Of course the show could always bypass the torture and execution bits, but that would be neglecting the a majority of Guy Fawkes role in history, really. In my opinion, it could make a really great story if it didn't happen to be about a group of people plotting to kill the king, and having a very gruesome death. What they were planning to do was in some way a form of terrorism if you think about it. Doctor Who has always been really smart on what historical events they would prefer to use and what not to use. Perhaps that's why we haven't seen so many historicals as of late; maybe they are running out of ideas.